Rep. Thornberry Gets Teabagger Opponent

Rep. Mac Thornberry represents the Texas Panhandle in the U.S. House of Representatives. He's not a leader and I doubt that most Americans have ever even heard of him. He keeps his head down, accepts his marching orders from the Republican leadership and never votes or deviates from the Republican Party line. He's the kind of Republican that party leaders love.

It was looking like Thornberry was going to have an easy time getting re-elected. The Panhandle is such a red area that the Democrats didn't even field a candidate against him in this election cycle. It looked for a while like his only opponent would be a Libertarian Party candidate, and even in the conservative Panhandle very few people vote for Libertarians. But things have changed.

While there may not be many Libertarians in the Panhandle, there are a lot of teabaggers. A few days ago the Texas Secretary of State notified Keith Dyer (pictured) that he will be on the November ballot as a candidate for the Panhandle's U.S. House seat against Thornberry. Dyer is a leader among Panhandle teabaggers.

This race just got interesting. While a Democrat or a Libertarian would not have much of a chance against Thornberry in this solidly Republican district, a teabagger like Dyer could get a lot of votes in this area. And they would all be Republican votes (since the Dems will either not vote in this race or vote for the Libertarian) -- votes that would have otherwise gone to Thornberry.

I expect Thornberry will still get re-elected but Dyer will probably siphon off a lot of the Republican vote in the district. Democrats have to be kicking themselves for not fielding a candidate now. With Thornberry and Dyer splitting the Republican vote, a Democrat would have stood a chance of winning for the first time in many years.